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Date:         Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:01:46 -0400
Reply-To:     David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Subject:      Re: Main Positive battery Cable
Comments: To: john <mreid157@XPLORNET.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <20100824235918.7DBB31DDE18E@smtprelay08.hostedemail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

At 07:59 PM 8/24/2010, john wrote: >I would like to know what you guys have been using as replacement cable and >if #1 AWG wire would suffice. The #1 AWG wire will still run me about 5.90 a >foot at the local marine supply.

70 mm^2 cable is about equal to 00. If you put in 1-ga instead your results will not be of the finest. VW didn't spend all that money on copper to be generous.

However, in my considered opinion the likelihood of there being significant internal corrosion in the existing cable -- barring an opening in the insulation that exposes it to salt water and such -- is utterly remote. Suggest you measure the voltage drop during starting from end to end including terminals, and then with a couple of needles from a point a few inches down the wire from each terminal. Germany thinks that a half volt is the maximum drop --> with locked starter rotor <-- so if you're seeing a quarter-volt end to end including connectors I'd think that was pretty reasonable. But I'll bet that whatever drop you see will be concentrated at the connectors. Drawing 150 amps through three meters of that cable should give a voltage drop of about 0.115 volts.

Where you *can* go wrong is having established that you need new connnectors, you don't take care that all 360 strands of the wire you're connecting to are shiny-bright. This can be a huge nuisance, so you might be better off cutting the wire back a foot or so until you reach bright shiny copper, then splicing in an additional length of new stuff. The surface oxidation won't hurt the cable resistance as long as all the strands are bright and shiny at the connection points. Any green corrosion you see at an insulation break is another matter entirely.

Yours, DAvid


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